


Icheneumonidae (DVD Commentary)

by havocthecat



Series: Lantean Hive [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: AU, Body Modification, Dark, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-05-02
Updated: 2007-05-02
Packaged: 2017-10-05 06:41:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havocthecat/pseuds/havocthecat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>DVD commentary to Ichneumonidae.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Icheneumonidae (DVD Commentary)

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://community.livejournal.com/lantean_hive/1410.html) on LJ.

**She'd started out by trying to talk to him. Carson was working on it. There was still hope for a cure. John wouldn't talk, wouldn't say anything. He just stared at her, meeting her pleading eyes with an intense yellow gaze that made Elizabeth shift uncomfortably and look away.**

This is _Elizabeth_. The image that stuck in my mind when I started this is that the first, most important thing that Elizabeth would do if something was wrong with John would be to try and reason with him. Words are this woman's weapon of choice, and _no one_ on Atlantis wields them more skillfully than she does. (You could make arguments on Teyla and Kate's facility with words, but they tend to use them in different ways.) So I had this image of Elizabeth and John in a darkened room, with only a dim, blue glow and a patch of sunlight falling on the ground, and John staring impassively at Elizabeth with these alien, yellow eyes as she tries to talk him down. While the look in her eyes is pleading, her words never are.

**The search parties would never find them. When they came near the room John had locked them in, the dim lights blacked out entirely, and he surged near her, his body pressing against hers in the darkness, and his hand over her mouth. His palm was slightly rougher, and during the day, when sunlight slanted in through the small window, she could see faint scales patterned in the blue iridescence of his skin.**

UST! The thing is, no matter how creepily silent and inhuman he is, it's _John_, and she's wanted him, even loved him, for a very long time now. But that's the one thing she's never been able to talk about with him. I think if I were going to go through and edit this, I'd amp up the sexual tension in this paragraph. (I'm considering going through and re-editing this sucker. I could up the creep factor by a few degrees, I think, and I _love_ the creep factor of this fic.)

**If she looked down, she could see that same blue iridescence spreading across her skin.**

This is supposed to be the big reveal of the fic, that not only did John kidnap Elizabeth, he's infected her with the retrovirus, and she's becoming alien. I don't know. I wanted Elizabeth to be angry, and frightened, and, above all, absolutely determined that this will _not_ happen to her. She's trying to find a way out, not to wait to be rescued.

Which, of course, makes it all the more tragic when she's lost as well.

(I love that! It's kind of Cthulhu-ish, and the loss of self and humanity is inevitable, only they're insectiod instead of icthyonic. I figured that with Conversion, and the Iratus bug, I should go with the themes we're given in the series.)

**He'd held her up against the wall of his quarters, choking her, eyes bleeding into an angry yellow color as he snarled. When he'd let her drop, all Elizabeth could do was lay on the floor and gasp for breath. She hadn't realized what was happening until it was too late. John reached for her, hard-tipped fingers--claws--scratching against her arms as he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. Ronon had given chase, tried to shoot them, but missed. She'd met his eyes with a wide, panicked gaze and he'd hesitated a second too long. John had vanished around the corner, into the dark hallways of one of the low-powered areas of the city.**

This is one of the two key factors that makes AU go so horribly, horribly awry from canon!Atlantis.

The first is more the absence of a factor: Colonel Skinner Caldwell and the Daedalus left on time, so snaked!Caldwell didn't have time to implement all the changes to security procedures that would've stopped this from happening.

The other was that John grabbed Elizabeth and ran, instead of running off by himself. The fact that he was holding onto Elizabeth slowed him down, but it gave him motivation. The retrovirus fueled all of John's instincts, including a mating instinct, and his human self was in too much control earlier, when he kissed Teyla. He was able to stop himself. This time, he can't, and when Elizabeth meets Ronon's eyes, Ronon freezes. It doesn't happen often to him, but how often do women who are facing near-certain death look him straight in the eye? The last time was seven years ago, with Malena, and the echoes of that day are coming back to him now. It's an awful time for his emotions to start unburying themselves, don't you think?

**No one knew Atlantis better than John.**

I'm sure that other people have explored the hell out of Atlantis. The scientists probably know the geography of the city best, but who _knows_ Atlantis on an instinctive, bone-deep level? (I know. That's kind of fanonish. But I _like_ that bit of fanon, and it works so well for the fic.)

**He'd thrown her down in a dark room. When she'd stood, taking ragged, heaving gulps of air, John was standing in front of the door. "It's locked," he rasped, stalking closer to her. **

Elizabeth had squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. "John--"

Here we go, echoing the start of the story again. It's a shame that talking to him gets her nowhere. (Well. A shame for her. We get creepy bugsex out of it. Go us!)

**"You're hurt," he'd said, taking her arms gently and turning them over, his thumb rubbing across one the gashes and smearing blood on her forearm. She met his gaze, her own expression full of resolve, and something flared in his eyes. He brought his palm up to his mouth, inhaling deeply, and then, lightning quick, he'd gashed teeth she'd never noticed had grown sharper against his palm, tongue flickering out delicately to lick at his wound, then clamping onto Elizabeth's arm hard, almost bruising her.**

I love this paragraph. Love, love, love it. I wanted to show the connection between Elizabeth and John, and show how it goes beyond words, and exists on an unspoken level. Mostly because then I get to pervert that connection, and making it twisted and just kind of on this animalistic (fine, fine _insectoid_) wavelength between them.

In other words, John and Elizabeth are doomed. But at least they get laid.

**Elizabeth had wrenched herself free, stepping back and cradling her arm against her red shirt as John stared at her triumphantly. "I'll wait," he'd said, his voice rough in the dark room.**

Elizabeth had felt the sharp sting of adrenaline flushing through her system. "That's how you were infected. Saliva and blood."

Well. That's kind of how John was infected. It's not really clear in Instinct, or the first few minutes of Conversion, but as far as I can puzzle it out, Ellia had tried to feed on John, caused an open wound, and she'd been drooling and bleeding, so some of that got into the wound.

Carson's going to feel _really guilty_. If he doesn't already. But what's science fiction without a geneticist who oversteps the bounds of common sense? *pats Carson* Poor man. He needs to be in a lab doing theoretical work, not practical.

**John's only answer had been a low chuckle. "Stay away from the door. I don't want to hurt you--"**

"More than you already have," Elizabeth had said, more sharply than she'd intended.

"But I won't let you go. I can wait."

John doesn't consider this harming Elizabeth. After all, the retrovirus has affected him mentally. We get that even in the show. He's _not_ afraid of what's happening to him, and that's the scariest thing about it. In this case, it's progressed far enough that he doesn't consider what he's just done to Elizabeth to be detrimental to her.

There's also that pesky addition of a retrovirus-fueled mating urge. Huh. Funny, that. I thought for sure that I'd be a freak of nature for writing this, but wow, people besides me _like_ creepy, semi-Cthonic bugporn. It's like fandom as a whole is obsessed with sex. My theory is that since most fiction that fandoms spring up around is almost rabidly asexual (woe), fandom as a whole is obsessed with the disconnect between what we see/read/hear and the reality, which is that people are sexual creatures, and it factors into our daily lives to some extent. Also, fandom is just obsessed with sex. (Ooh, look at that shiny glass house. Can I throw a rock, please?)

**She hadn't been able to look at him since. The retrovirus was spreading through her system as quickly as it had spread through John's. Quicker. She stayed in the weak sunlight when she could, since John preferred the darker corners of the room, but all too soon, the yellow light had started hurting her eyes. Even when she'd finally conceded that, moving back, away from the window and into the dim blue lighting that John could call up with the ATA gene, she'd stayed as far away from him as possible.**   
Poor Lizzie. This is the part where she can feel the changes, and knows what's happening, but she's still got enough of a problem with it to be worried. She can't get out. John's stronger than her, trained as a fighter, and she's a diplomat. I have this image of John sitting in the dark, staring at her, wanting to mate. Not only can Elizabeth feel her body changing, but she can feel his eyes on her. That's why she won't look at him. She knows what he wants.

It's not obvious here, but there's sort of a telepathic hive mind thing going, which would be my explanation for why, in Conversion, they believed John's rational thought processes were deserting him. They weren't, but he was becoming semi-telepathic, with no one around who could hear him telepathically. So in this case, Elizabeth's starting to feel John's thoughts, which just makes the whole thing kind of creepier and more intrusive.

**When she was too exhausted to stay awake any longer, she sat down, leaning against one of the walls and falling asleep. Her dreams were full of unfamiliar sounds _she'd always known them_, alien chittering and claws scrabbling against stone _welcoming her to the hive_, and she woke up, a scream strangled in her throat, only to meet John's eyes, watching the hazel bleed away into yellow as he stared at her.**

**She _knew_ couldn't imagine what he wanted. _Heat, warmth, lust._ Elizabeth looked away, and John flinched back as if she'd pushed him. _Heat pooling between her thighs._ He spent every night staring at her, and when the sun rose and they slept _light hurt sensitive eyes_, she tried to forget her dreams. _Longing for skin against her, the same as hers, hard-edged nails turning to claws raking against toughened not-scales._ She didn't look at her reflection any more, afraid of the color of her eyes _yellow_ staring back at her.**

Oh, I love this part. This was just a serious moment of inspiration on my part. (It's my fic and commentary; I can pat myself on the back if I want to.) I was trying to figure out a good way to describe how the alien DNA of the retrovirus was affecting Elizabeth mentally, and, lo! The italics tag came to my rescue as the way to show subconscious thoughts that were edging into her consciousness, and the changes her body and mind were both going through.

I envision this room as an empty bedroom, in one of the abandoned, farther edges of the city, so there's very little furniture, and what's there is ruined. But that's why there's a mirror in the room that Elizabeth becomes so afraid to look in.

Plus, ooh, almost forgot to mention! Elizabeth's dreams are blending with John's dreams now, which just adds to the surreality of it all, but I might have been too subtle with that. I'm big on being subtle in fanfic, but sometimes I wonder if I'm being _too_ subtle.

**Then, one night, she woke up and didn't look away. John came closer, inched toward her, one hand outstretched and she didn't flinch away _welcoming him_ from his fingertips on her cheek. A bare instant _forever_ passed, and then Elizabeth reached out _mine_ and pulled John to her, ripping his shirt as he slammed her hard against the wall _strong carapace strong mate_, shoving his shirt up as he tore at her clothing, pale blue skin against the scarlet _blood_ of her shirt. **

Their clothing discarded _shed_, John's face pressed against her neck as he slid into her _mating_, with Elizabeth braced against the wall, hair tumbled and chaotic and with her head flung back. _Drawing him in, hers, always hers._ His breath rasped harsh in her ears _like it was supposed to_, and he shoved inside her, slamming her against the wall, she was ready _changed, they both knew it, both felt it_, his hands skimming across her body as she wrapped her legs around his waist. _Hormones ripening, flushing away human-made birth control implants._ They came together, moving and gripping and tearing _mated_ until finally, half-alien sounds _calling for their kind_ falling from their mouths as they slid down against the wall, lying sated and naked together, John's hand resting on her flat stomach. _Soon._

It's not like this is all that long a stretch of time (72 hours, per section two), but to Elizabeth, it feels like forever. John's got them hidden out of range of the life signs detectors, and the Daedalus left to go back to Earth in this AU, so finding Elizabeth and John is just a highly difficult prospect right now.

And besides, it's too late for them now. [insert fiendish evil laugh] Because they've sexed each other up, and _that_ would really be the point of no return here. (What?) Oh, I know, it's not all about the sex, but come on, like John slamming Elizabeth up against a wall and driving into her is _such_ a pretty image. Also, here's the thing: They've had these feelings for each other for so long, and they've buried everything so far below the surface that it takes an alien retrovirus to make them admit it.

Elizabeth starts to get kind of possessive here, and John is just as possessive of her as she is of him. I like that about them. They're creepy bugpeople who just had creepy bugsex, but it's creepy, loving bugsex. Plus there are a whole new set of instincts settling into Elizabeth's behaviors, and it's just fun to try to figure out how to indicate them.

**She looked fondly down at him, watching with _alien_ green eyes that held a faint hint of yellow in them _always now_ as he pressed a soft kiss to her belly, murmuring _chittering_ to the faint beginnings of life growing within her.**

Yes. I made Elizabeth get pregnant with a bugbaby. I _like_ babyfic, and honestly, the opportunity to do weird and freaky stuff with a cranky bug!Lizzie afflicted with morning sickness? Honestly, how could I pass that up?

**When John looked up, meeting her eyes, she held his gaze calmly. Tonight, after the sun set, they could leave. They would have to visit Carson, hold him and show him what they were. _He was hers too._ Rodney would dim the lights. Rodney would do anything for her _more soon_, and Ronon would be hers too, strong and tall _they were all hers_. John wrapped his arms around her, his skin _rasping_ against hers as he kissed her again, and they turned toward each other, eyes closing to sleep as Elizabeth's instincts hummed, and she knew deep in her blood what would come. _Queen._**

This is where they're actually starting to really rock the telepathic contact, doing it deliberately and talking. Plus Elizabeth is _definitely_ getting possessive about everyone on Atlantis now. I think that's an extension of her natural tendencies as a leader, and then it's combined with the retrovirus latching onto the first female exposed to it. Every hive needs a queen.

I was going to end it here, but then I thought, "Hrm. Sheppard/Weir/Lorne. That's too pretty to pass up." And so there was a second part to this fic.

***

**It had only been seventy-two hours, and they were still scouring the city for Sheppard and Dr. Weir. Lorne's team had split this subsection of the city up an hour ago, each of them taking a quarter. He moved silently. Atlantis was nearly dead in these parts; the lighting dim. That's why they were here.**

Aw, poor Lorne. *pats him* He's really trying here. They're doing things logically, being sensible, following protocol (or what I imagine would be protocol), but luck just really isn't with him, and his good nature is going to be his downfall here.

**A faint choking sound caught his attention, and Lorne froze, his head whipping to the side. "Dr. Weir?" **

"Major Lorne?" Something was seriously wrong. Dr. Weir _never_ sounded that upset. "I'm in a room here. I can't open the door from the inside."

"Is Colonel Sheppard in there?" Lorne glanced around, heading for the direction he heard her voice in.

"Not--not any more," said Elizabeth, her voice catching.

Elizabeth knows _just_ how to push Lorne's buttons. You know she and John totally plotted this, right? Though given what's involved with infecting Lorne, Shep isn't particularly happy. (We, on the other hand, will be, because, God, so pretty.) See, Elizabeth and John are just a very dangerous team right now, more so than usual, because they've got a whole new set of behavior patterns overlaid on their usual habits, and who can predict what they'll do because of that? Plus, let's face it, right now they think Elizabeth needs to be rescued from John.

**There was a faint thread of power thrumming under his feet. Someone with the gene had been by, activating this area of the city. Lorne followed the trail, until he was standing in front of a door that opened when he waved his hand in front of the panel. Dr. Weir was standing in the room, a slanted ray of sunlight falling onto the floor in front of her. Her clothing was torn and filthy and she stared at him with wide, vulnerable eyes. Lorne touched his earpiece, but pulled his hand away as she shook her head, hair falling softly around her face.**

I like the idea that people with the ATA gene can sense things about Atlantis that no one else can, like where the power is active, and the city is giving them feedback via the gene. It fits, in my mind, with the concept that the Ancients made biofeedback part of their daily technology. Anyway, this is why Lorne's the one to find them, because he's the first one with the ATA gene who's gone by and swept this area of the city, so he's the only one who's sensed the power activation. It's so instinctual for him by now, I think, that he doesn't realize that not everyone can feel it.

Elizabeth's clothing is actually torn from the sexing up, but Lorne doesn't know that. Right now, she's standing in shadows, carefully out of the light, both because it would be painful to her, and because this is going to disguise the changes that she's gone through. She's got to talk, in order to disguise the changes, and also because that's the only way to communicate with Lorne right now. She's pushing so many of his buttons right now, and he's used to following her orders, so he listens when she tells him nonverbally not to radio anyone. Oops.

**"Please," said Dr. Weir softly. "I just-- John's not here. I don't know where he is."**

"Did he--" Lorne hesitated fractionally. "Did he hurt you?"

Dr. Weir shook her head. "I'm a little banged up, but that's about the extent of it." She swallowed. "It's all minor injuries."

Lorne let his breath out slowly. "I need to call a medical team to stand by," he said. "We need to leave now, so a team can sweep this section of the city for Colonel Sheppard."

What Lorne is really asking her is "did he rape you?" I suspect that in the interval between the first part and the second, Teyla told at least Lorne, Rodney, and Ronon about the kiss. (Oh, Teyla. I adore you so. I wish I could've worked you into this story.) Again, this is where you can all see that I may be too subtle for my own good. ([](http://medie.livejournal.com/profile)[**medie**](http://medie.livejournal.com/) picked up on it, though!) I had show-don't-tell drilled into me _very strongly_ but a number of writing teachers when I was younger.

All that's going through Lorne's mind right now is "thank God Weir is all right." Except she's _not_, and she's hiding that from him, but how is he going to know?

**"I sprained my ankle," said Dr. Weir. "I'm going to need help walking to the infirmary."**

Lorne nodded. "Right. Let's go now. I'm not waiting until Colonel Sheppard comes back and finds us here." He shouldered his P-90 and stepped into the room, walking over to Dr. Weir. She stared up at him as he slipped one arm around her. Lorne swallowed, trying not to feel the way she fit herself against his body as she leaned into him.

UST. Yay, UST! First of all, he's a guy, and there are very few guys who _aren't_ going to notice--and be conveniently distracted by--a woman leaning against them. She's overwhelming all of his protective instincts, and conveniently making him step around some of the military instincts. Let's face it, SGC time doesn't really help you to develop those my-buddy-is-acting-oddly instincts to their fullest, because they're generally pretty good about avoiding random snakings and accidental mindfrellings. (Unless you're Daniel.)

**They stepped forward, Dr. Weir wrapping her arms around his waist. Dr. Weir flinched when the light from the window fell across her eyes. Lorne glanced down and froze. A pearly blue sheen covered her skin.**

Dr. Weir paused, the questioning look on her face turning into a smirk when she saw him tightening his grip on his P-90. She reached up, blindingly fast, and wrenched the radio out of his ear as the door hissed closed. Dr. Weir tossed the radio at the door, and Colonel Sheppard caught it, looking smugly at Lorne.

"Fuck," said Lorne, and Dr. Weir pulled the P-90 out of his hands and sent it clattering off into the shadows. He backed up, pulling out his handgun and aiming it at Colonel Sheppard. "Okay, could one of you say something? The lack of talking is getting creepy."

Busted! *snicker* She and Sheppard have so been in telepathic contact the entire time, but I didn't indicate it nearly as much as I should have. I know that the surprise of Elizabeth being infected, as well as her sudden increase in physical strength, is shocking him enough that the two of them can get the drop on him. I like that Elizabeth suddenly goes silent once the trap is sprung. She's not human any more, and she doesn't need to act like it. Frankly, she's been so affected by the retrovirus that silence is preferable to her, and she doesn't _want_ to act like a human.

**Lorne fired off a couple of shots at Colonel Sheppard, who dodged out of the way, blindingly fast, and while he was distracted, Dr. Weir wrenched his hands to the side, squeezing the tendons of his wrist until the gun clattered to the floor. Colonel Sheppard stood back in front of the door, his arms crossed, glowering at Dr. Weir, until she turned and, no shit, _hissed_ at the Colonel.**

Sheppard glared at Elizabeth, and Lorne shook his head, twisting his wrist to pull out of Elizabeth's grip. She was suddenly stronger than her fragile appearance belied.

**He kicked out, trying to sweep her feet from under her, but Elizabeth stepped back, then forward, and pushed him down, so Lorne slammed into the ground, his head cracking against the metal floor so hard his vision went double.**

What are you going to do when your CO and her boss are suddenly turned into bugpeople? Try to shoot them, apparently. The thing is, Lorne's an SGC vet who got transferred to Atlantis. Dear God, the man's used to creepy alien shit attacking; so what's his first, bone-deep instinct going to be when there's creepy alien shit (even with familiar faces) attacking him? Shoot it. It doesn't make him a bad person. It makes him a soldier. (Yes, I was struggling with how to justify his reactions here. And now I am happy with them. Can you tell?)

I had so much fun with this scene, in part due to the variation in Elizabeth's behavior here. She's trying to incapacitate Lorne, and hopefully I've made it clear enough in the earlier section that everyone realizes she's not trying to kill him. The fact that Elizabeth is suddenly much more willing to get into any kind of physical altercation is a _huge_ indicator that she's not quite the same Elizabeth we know and love, but the hissing at Shep is what really takes the cake. (Hee. I love that part!) Poor Sheppard is _not_ a happy man here. Can we say bug!jealousy?

**She was on him in a heartbeat, straddling him, and Sheppard was standing nearer, leaning over him and snarling as Lorne pushed at Elizabeth, whose laugh was almost a high-pitched screech. She pulled up his shirt, swiping her nails down his chest, then licking her palm, swiping her hands along his chest and smearing saliva into the wounds. Lorne cursed, his vision still blurry, as he tried to remember what Doctor Beckett had told them about how Sheppard had been infected.**

Bwah. John isn't really used to using his voice any more, so it's a little bit hoarse and raspy. Plus his vocal chords have altered to allow him to make all those funky alien noises.

Elizabeth's high-pitched screeching isn't particularly a laugh, but that's what Lorne is interpreting it as. He's not thinking too clearly right now anyway. The man hit the back of his head _hard_ against the metal floor of Atlantis. It's a skull fracture, really, not just a concussion, and using my highly vague medical knowledge (we call it "guessing" around these parts), he's not able to do much of anything but lie there and take it from Elizabeth and John.

Not that we're complaining about that. Or we won't in the next section.

**Elizabeth shoved him down again, stepping back at the same time as Sheppard reached down to haul her up, pulling her into his arms as his hand settled protectively over her stomach. "Only a matter of time now," he rasped at Lorne. "Welcome to the club."**

John's still jealous here, tugging Elizabeth away from Lorne, and not just to get her out of any possible danger, but to get her away from _Lorne_. The fact of it is that he also wants Lorne (because, seriously, that's just hot), but he views Elizabeth as _his_ (as much as he views himself as hers, because, yes, let's hear it for equality, and also, she's the _queen_). Plus he's now having a creepy bug!baby with her, and he wants to protect the baby as well. (Have I mentioned already how much I love the bug!baby? Yes? Good.)

***

**Lorne had rolled over an hour ago, puked his guts out, and tried not to black out at the high-pitched squeals that sent pain shooting through his skull. Sheppard and Elizabeth were making sounds no human throat had been designed for, he was damn sure of that, and when he'd squinted at them, blurry eyesight or not, he was pretty sure he'd seen them lying together, each with a hand on Elizabeth's stomach, and making those _sounds_ at each other. At least they'd been making those sounds when they weren't staring at each other silently.**

If he'd thought the way the command staff of Atlantis communicated was odd before, this was downright freaky. The fact that it was starting to make sense was beyond freaky, passed though scary, and went right into batshit terrifying.

Lorne's awfully damn injured, and he didn't get a big enough dose of the retrovirus to let his body heal a skull fracture quickly enough. So right now it's a race between the retrovirus and the skull fracture. The retrovirus is definitely affecting him, as he's starting to be able to understand bug!Elizabeth and bug!John's communication. The fact that it's scaring him is a sign that the retrovirus hasn't affected him _too_ much.

**Elizabeth was staring at him now, and Lorne rolled his eyes as another bout of nausea had him groaning. Sheppard was glaring something fierce. "I've probably got a skull fracture," he said, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "No need to worry about little ol' me. Don't bother calling the infirmary. I'll just let the blood pool up under my skull until I go unconscious."**

**He let his eyes fall shut. He couldn't get out of there. Hell, he couldn't even get _up_ right now, the room spun that badly when he moved. "Really figured I'd blow myself up." Lorne paused, frowning. "Or Cadman would do it for me. She's good at that sort of thing." He felt a hand, feather-light, on his chest, and opened his eyes to see a big red blur and Elizabeth's concerned face looking fuzzily down at him. "Uh, Dr. Weir, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you and Sheppard have a bug thing going on?"**

It's Lorne. He's snarky. Elizabeth and John can hear his thoughts, and I think Elizabeth is a little surprised at just _how_ snarky Lorne is (and that he apparently has a thing for Cadman). He's generally a very toe-the-line kind of person around Elizabeth. Not to mention, she's also staring at him, because I think she'd been under the impression that he had a concussion instead, and the skull fracture worries her.

Plus I just couldn't resist the urge to use the phrase "don't you and Sheppard have a bug thing going on?" (Come on. Could you? Could you _really_ resist? I didn't think so.)

**She nodded, eyes wide and yellow, as she slid his shirt up, fingertips brushing against his chest, and Lorne shuddered. He couldn't decide how that felt, but given that he was a fairly normal guy, the fact that Elizabeth was hot and female trumped the fact that her skin was blue and she was half-cicada. Or whatever. She made a satisfied murmur that sounded mostly human, and lowered her mouth to the cuts on his chest. That...stung a hell of a lot less than it should have, and it was only a couple minutes in that Lorne remembered that saliva in an open wound pretty much guaranteed infection with the retrovirus, and that he shouldn't let her do that.**

Snark, snark, snarkity-snark. With this fic, I discovered the love of writing in Lorne's POV. Plus, wow, Lorne is being a typical guy here, and that involves the fact that if you have someone you're attracted to shoving your shirt up and _licking your chest_, chances are very good that you're not going to immediately think "ack, no, icky bugsex." Especially if you've got a skull fracture and your thoughts have been scrambled by that (and the addition of a hive mind that you're not quite feeling the conscious influence of).

**Except when he went to push her away, Lorne was really annoyed to find that Sheppard was holding his hands in place. "You know, since you're my commanding officer and all, this is really screwing with my mind. I'm pretty sure the Air Force wouldn't approve of my half-bug CO committing homoerotic acts on my very definitely mauled self. Sir."**

"Shut it, Lorne," growled Sheppard.

"Didn't think you guys were much with the talking," said Lorne. Elizabeth's hands were at his pants, and she was sliding them down his legs. "Or into threesomes."

Do you really think that _Sheppard_ and _Lorne_ could get into a sexual situation without snarking at each other? I mean, seriously? These two? No, I didn't think you thought that either.

I just really love the snark. Can you tell I cut a lot of my ficwriting teeth in Jossverse fandom?

**When Sheppard bent down over him, Lorne caught a hint of something in the air, and his vision focused sharply. His stomach clenched and he jerked up. "Shh," murmured Elizabeth, and then her hand was on his thigh and her body was sliding against his, and Lorne wasn't really sure when either he or Elizabeth had gotten naked. But the sounds she was making in his ear were strange and alien, and she was driving him crazy with them. Still, sex, so he wasn't going to think about it too hard right now. His head was already hurting enough.**

Yes. I know. This AU has really got ALIEN SEX PHEROMONES. *pets the bugverse* So far, no one has complained.

**Lorne was buried inside her, and Sheppard was staring down, angry and intense. Seeing Elizabeth's skin against his, the way Sheppard's hands were gripping his wrists, that was all a turn-on. He'd thought about Elizabeth and what it might be like with her. And he'd be _damned_ if he'd admit out loud to thinking the same thing about Sheppard, but he had. Something was in the air, a musky scent that should be alien, but he knew it somehow, and Lorne opened his mouth, trying to breathe it in. When Elizabeth leaned over and kissed him, he was flooded with it, and as she screamed and shuddered and writhed against him, he could feel her coming, surrounding him. Lorne gasped hoarsely, trying not to hear the way his voice had changed as everything spiraled into that one moment of release inside of Elizabeth. He'd already been willing to do anything for her, every one of them on Atlantis would, but it was bone-deep now. He ignored the voice whispering 'instinct' at him.**

You all realize that Lorne is never, ever going to let up on needling John about the fact that he's not the only one who's slept with Elizabeth, right?

I could go on about this paragraph, and what it means that Lorne is having hot alien bugsex with his bosses, and the whole idea of Elizabeth as queen being instinctual, but really, all I can think is, "Dude, Sheppard, Lorne is _never_ going to let you forget that." I'm sure Sheppard will find a way to get his revenge. I know that [](http://angelqueen04.livejournal.com/profile)[**angelqueen04**](http://angelqueen04.livejournal.com/) has a few ideas. (I think her ideas involve mischief. Mine involve porn. She's a much better person than I am.)

Though, really, part of what I wanted to accomplish in this paragraph wasn't just porny (though that's nice too), but also the fact that the bug!hierarchy is more genetically coded, not just behavioral, or determined by their positions in the expedition. It's actually fairly complicated, involving gender (oh, God, we're all handling this _so carefully_ in an attempt to avoid wank, I promise, but the series _does_ have primarily queens in charge of Wraith hives), who infects whom, along with some behavioral factors. Also, the magical power of handwaving things with the explanation of "alien retrovirus." That's necessary, because while I have a nice, pat explanation for _why_ Teyla and Kate feel no instinctual compulsion to obey Elizabeth, I can't actually get it all into the fic without beating y'all upside the head with exposition. Given that I hate reading that, I'd feel the need to gouge out my own eyeballs if I did it to everyone else.

**She moved back, naked and flushed, and when Sheppard moved in, shoving Lorne back down to the floor, he barely noticed that he wasn't dizzy any more, and Sheppard's face was clear. Angry, but clear, and when Sheppard kissed him roughly, Lorne wrapped his hand hard around the back of Sheppard's neck and didn't let the man pull away. Lorne slid his hand down Sheppard's belly, underneath the waistband of his pants, and palmed the length of Sheppard's cock in his hand. Sheppard jerked against him, then pushed into his hand, growling. He saw a flash of blue, watched Elizabeth's finely clawed hands pulling down Sheppard's pants, and Lorne didn't look at the color of his own skin.**

Apparently Lorne has also decided that he wants Sheppard too. But he knows better than to tease Elizabeth about it after the fact. This part of the fic completely hit me by surprise. I have _never_ written anything even remotely close to explicit m/m before. But, um, yeah. Apparently John decided that Elizabeth was going to have to share Lorne. Or Lorne decided that he was going to have both of them. It gets a little unclear here. But this paragraph and the next one were the ones I was completely freaking about before I posted.

**They stopped, watching Elizabeth as she sat there cross-legged, naked and staring at them with yellow-green eyes. Her fingers were circling her entrance, wet and glistening, and she was dipping them slowly inside, pushing. With her other hand, she was rolling one nipple slowly between her fingertips. Her mouth was parted and she licked softly at her lips. She smelled so good. Lorne's nostrils flared. She wanted them to do this, so he stroked along Sheppard's cock, kissed him again, hard, their bodies moving together as Sheppard thrust against him, filling the air with their scents, male and hot and _hers_. She wanted them, both of them, and Lorne smirked as Sheppard came.**

Um. Yes. This paragraph is pure porn, and written solely for the pretty. I have nothing else to say here.

**Barely a minute later, they heard Elizabeth cry out, and then she was moving, crawling between them and they were laying down on either side of her, surrounding and protecting Elizabeth as they waited until nightfall. Sheppard was cradled against her front, and Lorne was pressed against Elizabeth's back, his blunted claws dimpling the roughened blue skin of her hip where his hand rested. He let his eyes close against the harsh yellow of Atlantis' sunlight, calmed into sleep by the scents of Elizabeth and Sheppard and the edges of their minds, full of no-longer-alien thoughts, as they meshed with his.**

Mm. This really wasn't just for the pretty image of Elizabeth sandwiched in between Lorne and John. The Iratus bugs, so far as we could tell in Conversion, were all pretty comfortable with each other in close quarters, and so I decided that was going to translate into huddling together during sleep for the proto-Wraith bugpeople that Elizabeth, John, and Lorne have become. The fact that they're all calmed and reassured by the physical contact comes into play again in Bacchanalia, with Kate.

Plus, also, it's a pretty image.

\--the end--


End file.
